The Secrets of the Self (Khudi)

Raise thyself to such a height that before issuing each decree GOD himself may ask His slave: “What is thy pleasure?”

It is this doctrine of “Khudi” which Iqbal has propounded and explained at length in his famous Mathnawi Asrar-i-Khudi (The Secrets of the self), a real masterpiece of Persian poetry which has been translated into English by Nicholoson and has acquired wide celebrity. Yet the development of his own personality is not the only function of man. He is a part and parcel of the corporate human society and has frequently to subjugate his ego to the demand of his fellow-beings and the duties owes to them.